Having once gone down the deep claustrophobic shaft of a British mine many years ago, we had no desire to enter the mines of Cerro Rico (rich mountain) overlooking #Potosi, the world famous mountain & onetime origin of the world’s largest silver deposits – now mostly extracted. For starters, in the place where upto 8 million indigenous worker-slaves & black African slaves are believed to have died/been killed by their Spanish masters, this seemed like the worst kind of tourism. But after a few days in Potosi you realise how much the mines define the city, so to better understand this complex relationship & history we signed up for a tour.
Not just any tour – we found an agency run by ex-miners (mostly retired through injury), whose guides were ex-miners, who luckily spoke decent English, and who donated money back to the working miners (see Big Deal Tours at Calle Bustillos #1092, corner with Calle Ayucucho). Providing safety equipment, a visit to a refining company (the process of extracting minerals from the mined rocks), views of cerro Rico, and a tour of a working mine. So we turned up in trepidation at 8.30am on 24 March in central Potosi, to join a tour with 3 other Europeans and 2 Spanish speakers. Continue reading